The 5th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Brigade
A special service was held at Trinity Church, Hastings on in February 1915. The colours of the 5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Brigade were temporarily laid up at the church...
Category Ghosts
Photographs showing comparisons of scenes around Hastings and St Leonards today against those taken in the past.
South Wales Borderers at the Highlands Hotel
This image shows some soldiers of the South Wales Borderers billeted at the Highlands Hotel in Boscabel Road, St Leonards in February 1915. These soldiers were of the 7th Service Battalion of the South Wales Borderers...
Returning to Barracks
This image shows the recruits of the 5th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery Reserves returning to barracks after a football match played on Horntye Fields. The match, Hastings versus Eastbourne & District,  finished 5-1 to the Eastbourne team. They are…
Royal Field Artillery on the march
This image shows the Right Section of the 2nd Home Counties Brigade, Royal Field Artillery leaving Hastings for service in the war. The original photograph appeared in the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser on 17th August 1914. The 2nd…
St Johns Ambulance Brigade go to War
This Then and Now image shows the officers and men of the St Johns Ambulance Brigade standing outside of their former Hastings headquarters. The original photograph was taken in August 1914 shortly before the entire brigade of twenty men left…
Ghosts of the St Leonards Arch
The St Leonards Arch marked the boundary between Burton’s St Leonards and Hastings. The arch, which was built in 1837, was designed to cater for the traffic of its day. As both Hastings and St Leonards expanded, and the numbers…
King George V at West Marina 1918
The image above shows King George V at West Marina Gardens when he visited on 30th August 1918. He was reviewing Royal Air Force Cadets who were stationed at Bexhill, St Leonards and Hastings. After arriving by train at the West…
Hastings Lifeboat on Robertson Street
This image shows the Hastings Lifeboat, Charles Arkcoll II, being moved through Robertson Street to BoPeep for launch on 25th April 1908. It would have been quicker to pull the lifeboat than row it against a strong westerly gale. There…
Ghosts of Hastings Town Centre
This image shows two formidable looking ladies crossing Hastings town centre. A typical urban scene, apart from the military vehicles they are passing. This is Hastings during the early period of the second World War. A town subject to aerial attacks and…
The Swan Hotel, Hastings
At 1pm on Sunday the 23rd May 1943 10 Focke-Wulf 190’s dropped 25 bombs and machine gunned the town. The Swan Hotel was one of five public houses and two hotels hit by the bombs. The hotel was packed with…
Tram Tracks in Mount Pleasant Road
This image shows the tram tracks being laid along Mount Pleasant Road, Hastings in about 1905. Proposals for a tram system were first proposed as early as 1891 but there was stiff resistance to the enterprise by town councillors. They thought…
St Leonards Bathing Pool
The St Leonards Bathing Pool, designed and built by Sid Little, was opened in May 1933. The pool space measured 100m by 27m with a 10m high diving board. Unsurprisingly, given the architect, the bathing pool was an entirely concrete…